Music Hall of Williamsburg
Brooklyn, NY
Words by Cameron Cook
Photos by Abbey Braden
John Lydon grabs a towel and wipes the side of his face. “If you spit on me one more time, I’m going to mash it right back into your filthy fucking face,” he says to the one sorry punter who thought he was at Club 100 circa. 1977. “You’re at the wrong gig at the wrong time, asshole.” It’s astounding that someone would seen such a pant-wettingly aggressive reminder that, 30 years down the line, Lydon is not, we repeat NOT, Johnny Rotten, the snot-nosed gutter punk who launched the Sex Pistols into legend. This is Public Image Ltd. This is different. This is real.
The spitting incident happened during “This is Not a Love Song”, PiL’s set opener, moments after Lydon appeared from the side of the stage amidst the song’s ear-splitting guitars and rubbery bassline, clad in black with his signature shaved haircut, still-dyed-after-all-these-years, standing on end. The packed crowd was, understandably, going absolutely haywire, and as soon as Johnny opened his mouth to sing, it was evident why: this wasn’t some sort of cash cow reunion, planned off the back of Coachella to siphon off a few thousand ticket sales from nostalgic superfans. PiL know what they are doing and came to deliver: even tracks off of 1979′s genre-defining Metal Box, which, let’s be honest, aren’t the best songs to get groovy to on a Wednesday night, soared to new heights, thanks to Lydon’s demonic energy and the multi-instrumental virtuoso of Lu Edmonds (formerly of the Damned and an early member of PiL), who wielded everything from a Fender to an electric banjo played with a violin bow. “Poptones” and “Albatross” became sprawling epics just as vital and affirming as PiL’s more popular “pop” tunes.
Being in my mid-twenties and having only moved to a major metropolitan city in my late teens, I had never had the opportunity to see John Lydon live before, in any capacity, so I was somewhat unprepared for this undeniable vocal prowess: he delivers his lyrics with a thousand-mile stare, his words belted out in something of a new variant to the bleating vibrato we all know him for. It was breathtakingly powerful, and when the set came up to the almost rave-like “Warrior”, both the crowd and the band had reached their apex.
As expected, PiL saved their wad for the encore: after a well-deserved cigarette break, they bounded onstage to the pounding drums of “Public Image”, which gave the audience an incredibly forceful second wind, followed by a sing-along version of “Rise”, arguably their most popular song. “Playing proper music for proper people,” said Lydon in his booming voice, “These are my roots.”
PiL, May 19th 2010, Music Hall of Williamsburg:
This Is Not a Love Song
Poptones
Memories
Annalisa
Length
Albatross
EW
Flowers of Romance
Psychopath
Warrior
USLS1
Death Disco
Disappointed
Sun
Bags
Chant
Religion
//
Public Image
Rise
Open Up
